


The Promotion

by blk0912



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Established Barson, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:14:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27172271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blk0912/pseuds/blk0912
Summary: Olivia and Rafael celebrate the promotion of a friend
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Olivia Benson
Comments: 7
Kudos: 31





	The Promotion

**Author's Note:**

> This is my bday gift for the amazing Sandra. Takes place about 2 years after the current chapter of Trivia Night (ch23). You don't have to read it in order for this story to make sense, but I would still love it if you did :) This also allowed me to fix part of the episode that shall not be named that I haven't fixed before ;)
> 
> Enjoy!

* * *

“Ben Stone died.”

Olivia looked up from the report she’d been reading to see her husband leaning against the doorframe of her office. “The former EADA?”

Rafael pushed off the frame and walked over to sit in a chair opposite her. “Yes. McCoy wants all current and former ADAs at the funeral.”

“When is it?”

“Friday morning.”

Olivia nodded as she pulled her calendar up on the computer. “Lucy is free that morning, so she can stay with the kids while we go to the funeral. Fin can handle things here.”

“Livia, you don’t have to…” Rafael began, stopping when Olivia held up her hand.

“It would make you feel better if I went with you, correct?” At Rafael’s nod, she continued. “Then that’s all I need to know. Fin is more than capable of handling things. We’ll both take the day. Go to the funeral in the morning, and then go home to spend time with our kids. We promised them a long weekend just the five of us, remember?”

Rafael smiled and nodded. “Miranda started a countdown. She won’t let me forget.”

“She did?”

“You didn’t know?”

Olivia shook her head. “She never mentioned it to me. But we both know you’re her favorite.”

Rafael rolled his eyes at her. “You know that’s not true.”

“You’re the favorite storyteller of all three kids.”

Rafael chuckled. “I can’t help that, Livia.”

This time it was Olivia’s turn to roll her eyes. “Whatever you say, Rafa.”

“Keep that in mind when I tell you I need more to get you the warrant you want.”

“Sometimes I think you just tell me that to annoy me.”

Rafael laughed, and the way his eyes crinkled when he was truly amused by something never failed to make her smile. “You’re the one who practically threatened McCoy when he dared to even  _ suggest _ assigning a new ADA to SVU.”

Olivia leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms as she glared at him. “I did no such thing.”

Rafael laughed again. “Oh, yes, you did,  _ mi vida _ . I believe there was something about messing with a good team and how...disastrous...that could be.”

“It’s true,” she insisted, though her lips were twitching as she attempted to hold back her laughter. 

A knock at the door interrupted their conversation. 

“If ya’ll are done flirting, we need a warrant,” Amanda said as she entered the room.

“As if you and Sonny don’t do your fair share of it in the squad room every day,” Rafael retorted.

Amanda simply shrugged as she handed him the file she’d been holding. While he read over it, she turned to Olivia. “I think he’s finally lost it.”

Olivia unsuccessfully tried to hold back her laughter. “I think I’ll keep him anyway.”

Rafael looked up from the file to raise an eyebrow at her. “I should hope so. You married me and we have three children together.”

“Speaking of children, I need to leave early so I can take Luca to the doctor.”

“I thought Sonny was taking him?”

“He was...until he got a call from Jesse’s school because she fell at recess and hurt her arm. I was in the middle of interviewing the victim when he got the call. So, now I need to get Luca and take him to his check-up.”

“Make sure Nick, Erin, and Fin are up-to-date on what you found out.”

“Working on that now.”

“What time do you need to leave?”

Amanda checked her watch. “In about an hour.”

“Any word on Jesse?”

“They were waiting for the doctor last I heard.”

Olivia nodded and then turned back to her husband. “So, do we have enough for a warrant?”

* * *

Stepping into the church, Rafael reached for Olivia’s hand, lacing their fingers together as they walked down the aisle toward the pews where the other current and former ADAs were sitting. Taking a seat, he drew Olivia down beside him, never letting go of her hand. 

* * *

After the funeral, Rafael and Olivia exited the church to find McCoy talking to Ben’s son, Peter, who had spoken during the service. 

“Just the two people I was looking for,” McCoy said with a smile, motioning them over. When they got closer, he turned to the younger man at his side. “Peter, these are the two people I was just telling you about: Lieutenant Olivia Barba and EADA Rafael Barba.”

“I can’t believe you let them work together,” Peter said to McCoy. “In Chicago, that would never be allowed.”

Olivia and Rafael both bristled at the younger Stone’s words. The former was the first to recover. 

“Rafael and I are both dedicated to getting justice for victims. We’ve been careful to make sure as little of our personal life bleeds into our professional one as possible. We have never given 1PP or the DA’s office a reason to doubt our ability to work together. We were partners for four years before we even got together.”

“They make an excellent team,” McCoy said. 

“That’s irrelevant,” Peter insisted.

“Good thing it’s not your decision, then,” Rafael retorted, tightening his hold on Olivia’s hand. “And this isn’t Chicago. This is New York City. This is SVU, not Intelligence. We’re very sorry for your loss, but our children are waiting for us at home, so I hope you’ll forgive us for not staying.”

Peter was at a loss for words, simply turning to McCoy with a disbelieving look as Olivia and Rafael walked away. 

“I tried to warn you,” McCoy told the younger man. 

“Is he that...acerbic...in the courtroom?”

McCoy chuckled, clasping Peter on the shoulder. “He definitely doesn’t mince words. It’s part of what makes him the best prosecutor in the city.”

* * *

The following week, Rafael met Lucy at the entrance to the courthouse. He had just finished a meeting when he got a call from the girls’ school that they needed to be picked up early due to the heat going out. Knowing he had another meeting with Rita just a few minutes after the call and Olivia had a mountain of paperwork to get through, he’d called Lucy to see if she could pick them up and bring them to him before she went to campus for the day. 

As expected, Catie held tightly to Lucy’s hand but the minute Miranda saw him, she let go of Lucy’s other hand and ran toward him. 

“Daddy!” she exclaimed as he caught her up in a tight hug. 

“ _ Mija _ , we’ve talked about running away from adults,” he lightly scolded. 

Miranda batted her eyes innocently. “Sorry, Daddy.”

Rafael kissed the side of her head before setting her back on her feet and reaching for Catie, who had now reached him. 

“Thank you for picking them up,” He said to Lucy after hugging Catie and then shifting her to his hip. 

“It was no problem,” Lucy replied with a smile. “I can take them tomorrow morning if their school doesn’t reopen.”

“I’ll let you know. The school is supposed to send an email this afternoon when they’re apparently going to know more.”

“Bye, Lucy,” Miranda and Catie chorused together. 

* * *

Once Lucy had left, Rafael took Miranda’s hand and then began walking toward the elevators that would bring them upstairs to his office.

“We’re going to your office?” Miranda asked excitedly. 

“ _ Sí, mija _ .”

Catie laid her head on his shoulder as he walked. They had made it upstairs and were walking down the hall toward Rafael’s office when they were stopped by someone saying his name.

“Barba?” 

Rafael turned to look and see who had called his name. He saw Steve Harris walking out of a nearby office. 

“Captain, what brings you back to Manhattan?” Rafael asked when the older man approached.

Harris looked between him, Miranda, and Catie, a smile forming on his face as he answered.

“I had a meeting with one of your colleagues. Is it take your daughters to work day?”

Rafael chuckled, then smiled and shrugged. “When your daughters’ school has no heat in the middle of winter it is.”

Harris looked surprised by that answer, causing Rafael to smirk. “What? You didn’t think they were actually mine?”

“I didn’t think you were the marriage and kids type.”

“I didn’t think I was, either. Then I met their mother and the rest is history.”

“Who  _ is _ their mother?”

“You don’t know?”

Before either man could say anything else, said mother had arrived at Rafael’s side.

“Rafa, I just talked to the girls’ school and they said Lucy picked the girls up. I called Lucy and she said you had them?”

Harris looked between Rafael and the woman who had just arrived. 

“ _ Detective Benson _ ?”

Olivia exchanged an amused look with her husband before sliding her arm around his waist as she addressed her former interim commanding officer. “It’s Lieutenant Barba now, actually...and Rafael is now the Executive ADA for Manhattan.”

“So it’s true, then? You two got married?” Harris asked, looking between Olivia and Rafael in bewilderment.

Rafael pressed a kiss to Olivia’s temple, making her smile. 

“I assure you it’s true,” Olivia replied. “I’m surprised you didn’t know.”

“I’ve been traveling for a while and just recently returned to the city,” Harris told her. “So you have two kids?”

“Three, actually. Our son’s school is in another building that fortunately  _ does _ have heat.”

“How old?”

“Noah is seven, Miranda is five, and Catie is two,” Olivia said. At Harris’ confused look after doing the math in his head, she laughed. “Noah and Miranda are adopted. Catie is our only biological child.”

At the sound of her name, Catie looked over and grinned when she saw her mother. 

“Mommy!” she exclaimed, reaching for Olivia, who immediately took her and settled her on her hip. 

“This is our youngest, Catie. Catie, this is Mr. Harris, he introduced Daddy and me to each other.”

“Hello,” Catie said politely. 

While Olivia was introducing Harris and Catie, Rafael felt a tug on his hand. Looking down, he saw Miranda looking up at him. 

“This is our older daughter, Miranda,” Rafael added, squeezing Miranda’s hand as he introduced her to the older man. 

“Hello,” Miranda said, using the same polite tone as her sister before turning back to her father. “Daddy,  _ tengo hambre _ .”

“ _ Un momento, corazoncito _ .”

“ _ También tengo hambre _ ,” Catie added. 

Turning back to Harris, Rafael offered him a small smile. “It was nice to see you again, Captain, but we should get these two fed before they turn into little monsters.”

“ _ Nosotras no somos monstruitos _ ,” Miranda argued, eliciting laughter from Olivia, Catie, and Rafael.

“I’m not so sure about that,” Rafael replied, lifting Miranda into his arms. 

Miranda laid her head on his shoulder and batted her eyes at him. “ _ No soy un monstruito,  _ Daddy.  _ Soy tu corazoncito, ¿recuerdas? _ .”

Rafael pressed a kiss to her forehead. “ _ Sí, mija, lo recuerdo _ .”

Olivia rolled her eyes at them before turning back to Harris. “We really should get going, but like Rafael said, it was nice to see you again.”

Harris nodded. “You have a beautiful family,” he told them with a smile. “And congratulations to you both on your promotions.”

“Thank you.”

Once Harris had left, Olivia turned to her husband. “Are you almost done for the day? I thought we could all go pick up Noah and then get something to eat.”

Rafael set Miranda back on her feet. “I can finish the rest of what I need to do at home. I just need to pack up.”

“Let’s go back to your office so you can do that, then,” Olivia replied, grabbing Miranda’s hand. 

* * *

Walking out of his school, Noah looked around for Amanda and frowned when he didn’t see her. 

“Noah,  _ mijo _ !”

Grinning at the sound of his father’s voice, Noah turned to see him, his mother, and sisters waiting for him. When he reached them, he wrapped his arms around Rafael’s waist and hugged him. “I thought Aunt Amanda was picking me up?”

Rafael ran a hand over his son’s hair. “We gave her the day off.  _ Abuelita  _ and  _ Abuelito  _ are making dinner for us tonight.”

“At our house?”

“Yes. They’re on their way there now.”

“Let’s go!” Noah declared, reaching for Rafael’s free hand. 

* * *

After dinner with his parents and tucking the kids into bed, Olivia and Rafael relaxed together in their bed. 

“I talked to Mike this morning,” Olivia said as she laid her head on Rafael’s shoulder and felt his arm wrap around her. 

“How’s he doing?” Rafael asked, lacing the fingers of his free hand with Olivia’s. 

“He got promoted. The ceremony is Friday morning. The whole squad is going. Do you have court that morning?”

Rafael mentally went through his court schedule. “No. I can go with you. Papi said if the girls still don’t have school, he can take them that day. Mami is taking them tomorrow and Lucy said she could take them if the heat still isn’t fixed by Thursday.”

“Hopefully it stays working at Noah’s school.”

Rafael chuckled, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “If it doesn’t, we’ll figure it out. We have a village, remember?”

Olivia smiled and nodded. “We do, and I’m so grateful for them.”

“Speaking of said village, Diego is planning on proposing to Laura soon.”

“How do you know that?” 

“Mami told me. I guess he came over the other night to talk to her and Papi about it.”

“You know she still gets teary-eyed when you refer to Javier as your dad?”

Rafael rolled his eyes. “It’s been over a year now.”

Olivia laughed as she poked his side. “It means a lot to her...and to Javier.”

“I know,” Rafael said as he wrapped his arm tighter around his wife. “Get some sleep,  _ mi vida _ .”

Olivia snuggled closer to him, wrapping her arm around his stomach as she closed her eyes.

* * *

“Liv!”

At the sound of her name, Olivia turned her head and saw Alice walking over, her and Mike’s one-year-old son, Danny, in her arms. She wore a light blue dress and the little boy wore a small suit in the same navy blue color as his father’s dress police uniform.

“I saved you both seats,” Alice said as she approached. “Mike will be so happy you both could make it. Bill is the proud papa today, so try to contain your eye-rolls today, Rafael.”

Rafael chuckled. “I’ll do my best, but I make no guarantees.”

“Mike said you’d say something like that.”

“I’ll keep him in line, don’t worry,” Olivia said with a laugh, looping her arm through Rafael’s.

Alice smiled at them. “Come on, then. The rest of the squad is already here.”

“We would have been here sooner but  _ someone _ had a hard time saying goodbye to the children this morning.”

Rafael shook his head. “I believe that was  _ you, mi amor _ .”

“I don’t think so.”

Alice laughed. “Speaking of your kids, how are they?”

“Growing too fast,” Olivia replied. “Javier has all three of them this morning. The girls’ school  _ still _ doesn’t have heat. Noah was supposed to have a half-day today, but we let him stay home.”

“Bill is having everyone over after this to celebrate. You two are more than welcome, but if you want to get home to your kids, we understand.”

Olivia looked over at her husband before turning back to the younger woman. “We could stop by for a little while.”

“Good. Your seats are next to Amanda and Sonny. Danny and I are up front with Bill, Ingrid, and Matt.”

* * *

“Congratulations,” Olivia said as she hugged her former sergeant. 

“Thanks,” Mike replied with a smile. “When Munson shot me, I never thought I’d live to marry Alice, let alone have a son and now get promoted.”

“I never should have left you alone with him.”

Mike placed a hand on her arm. “Those kids needed to get out of the house. I’m just grateful you were able to get back in before too long. You saved my life.”

“It never should have been in jeopardy.”

Mike shook his head. “No one expected things to happen the way they did. I don’t blame you, Liv. The important thing is I survived.”

Olivia nodded, leaning into Rafael when he wrapped an arm around her. 

“I learned a lot from you, Liv. I know my father put me with you for his own reasons, but I guess it worked out for you in the end, too.”

“What do you mean?”

Mike nodded toward the corner where Fin and Rita were talking with Erin and her boyfriend, Andy. “Fin is your sergeant now, as he should have been from the beginning.” 

Olivia smiled. “He claims he didn’t want the job, but Amanda says he enjoys being in charge.”

“I believe Amanda,” Mike said with a laugh.

“She’s right,” Rafael confirmed. 

* * *

“Mommy! Daddy!” 

Walking into their house, Olivia and Rafael weren’t surprised to see a blur of purple running toward them at full-speed and easily caught their older daughter in a hug. 

“Mommy and Daddy need to change clothes and then we’ll be with you and your siblings,” Rafael told her, pressing a kiss to her forehead. 

“Then we can watch Lumpy’s movie?”

“Yes, then we can watch Lumpy’s movie,” Olivia confirmed. “But remember Noah and Catie get to pick movies, too.”

“I remember.” 

“Good girl. Now why don’t you make sure we have enough pillows and blankets while Daddy and I change?”

“Okay,” Miranda replied, grinning as she turned back around and ran back down the hall. 

“Maybe we should enroll her in another activity,” Rafael commented as he and Olivia walked upstairs. 

Olivia playfully slapped his arm as she laughed. “Just unleash her in the courthouse and she’ll be fine.”

Rafael laughed. “I’m not sure I’d have a job anymore if I did that.”

“She loves going to your office with you, though.”

“All of the kids do.”

“Miranda especially, though. I swear I’m going to come home one day to find her reading one of your law books.”

“You really think she’ll be a lawyer someday?”

Olivia shrugged. “Obviously we don’t know for sure, but I could see it happening.”

“What about Catie and Noah?”

“I’m not sure yet. Maybe one of them will end up as a police officer like me.”

“Can you imagine one kid running SVU and the other as SVU’s ADA?”

Olivia laughed. “I’d feel sorry for anyone who disagreed with them.”

* * *

Settling on the couch, Olivia curled into Rafael’s side as the kids each settled into their “movie bed” on the floor. 

“Which movie are we watching first?” Rafael asked.

“Lumpy,” Noah replied. “ _ Abuelito _ told us all to choose a number between one and ten. Whoever got the closest to the number  _ he _ was thinking of got to have their movie played first. I lost. Miranda and Catie both got closer to his number than I did.”

Rafael chuckled. “Your movie can be first next time,  _ mijo _ .”

“Okay,” Noah agreed, turning his attention back to the TV.

As he pressed  _ play _ on the movie, Rafael tightened his arm around Olivia and looked at each of their children. 

“Everything okay?” he heard Olivia ask.

Rafael nodded, pressing a kiss to her hair. “Just thinking it’s been too long since our last family movie night.”

“We’ll have to have another one soon.”

“Another movie night or another kid?” Rafael teased.

Olivia smiled. “That’s for me to know and you to find out.”


End file.
